The ELG target selection with the BOSS survey

TL;DR

This paper evaluates galaxy selection methods to build an emission-line galaxy sample suitable for BAO measurements at redshift 0.6 to 1.7 using the BOSS spectrograph, confirming the feasibility for future surveys like eBOSS.

Contribution

It introduces and assesses new galaxy selection schemes for ELG samples in the specified redshift range for BAO studies with BOSS.

Findings

Feasibility of massive ELG surveys with BOSS spectrographs at z~1.

Effective color selection methods using SDSS and CFHTLS photometry.

Support for the proposed eBOSS experiment targeting BAO detection.

Abstract

The Baryon Acoustic Oscillation (BAO) feature in the power spectrum of galaxies can be used as a standard ruler to probe the accelerated expansion of the Universe. In this paper, we study several galaxy selection schemes aiming at building an emission-line galaxy (ELG) sample in the redshift range $0.6 < z < 1.7$, that would be suitable for future BAO studies using the Baryonic Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) spectrograph on the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) telescope. We explore two different color selections using both the SDSS and the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey (CFHTLS) photometry in the $u, g, r, i$ bands and evaluate their performance for selecting bright ELG. This study confirms the feasibility of massive ELG surveys using the BOSS spectrographs on the SDSS telescope for a BAO detection at redshift $z\sim1$, in particular for the proposed eBOSS experiment.